In an action-heavy non-title affair, Eddie Alvarez proved once again why he’s considered among the best lightweights in the world by dismantling “El Matador” for 10 minutes in the main event of Thursday’s Bellator 33 event at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia.

The damage started early in the fight as a snapping Alvarez low kick saw Huerta stagger. The eight-time UFC veteran was forced to switch stances due to the early leg strikes, and he backed feebly to the fence and absorbed several of Alvarez’s impressive boxing attacks.

As the round wore on, Alvarez also blasted his opponent with knees up the middle. Huerta looked out of sorts and lacking the tools to win as Alvarez gained complete control of the momentum.

Of course, this was Roger Huerta.

The scrappy Huerta didn’t go down without a fight and scored a flash knockdown on a well-timed counterpunch late in the opening round. Alvarez was floored, but he recovered quickly and still hung on to win the round.

Alvarez went back on the attack in the second with a staggering array of strikes, and Huerta was limping and sporting a badly battered face. Huerta did earn a takedown in the round as he looked to turn the tide, but Alvarez popped right back up and went again on the attack.

As Huerta waited for the start of the final round, cageside physicians determined his badly swollen left eye was too much to overcome and waved off the fight.

Following the win, Alvarez admitted he was stunned by Huerta’s heart.

“That guy wouldn’t go down,” Alvarez said. “I hit him with a lot of good shots. My hat’s off to Roger for staying in there as long as he did.”

With the non-title win, Alvarez (21-2 MMA, 5-0 BFC) has now claimed six straight wins. Huerta (21-5-1 MMA, 1-2 BFC) is now just 1-4 in his past five fights despite constantly delivering on action-packed affairs.

In the weeks leading up to Ben Askren‘s title shot against Lyman Good, the challenger was treated as the favorite by most MMA observers. When the cage door closed behind the welterweights, that estimation proved largely true.

In the opening two rounds, Good showed decent takedown defense while shucking off Askren’s initial attempts to move the fight to the floor. But Askren pushed forward each time, and his second efforts proved successful. Once there, Askren was able to advance quickly to mount and deliver his patented moderately paced ground and pound.

As the fight wore on, Askren’s dominance on the floor became increasingly clear. But Good received a brief glimmer of hope in the fourth round when the match referee stood the fight up for a restart halfway through the frame despite Askren holding mount. It didn’t matter, and Askren took the fight to the mat yet again.

With Askren grinding away, the result seemed fairly secure, but Good refused to simply hand over the belt. Good fired up a powerful upkick that landed on the money, and Askren dropped to the floor. Lying flat on his back, Good didn’t appear to recognize the damage that had been inflicted, and his follow-up attack was slow. Nevertheless, he was able to secure a triangle choke that appeared capable of delivering a come-from-behind victory.

It wouldn’t.

Askren, who insisted following the fight that he had never been truly rocked, stacked his opponent up, shook free of the hold and returned to top position. The fight would end there, and Askren was awarded a unanimous-decision win – though it came with wildly varying scores of 49-46, 48-47 and 50-45 – and became Bellator’s new welterweight champion.

Following the win, a battered Askren admitted he had been through a battle.

“Lyman did some damage,” Askren said after checking out his mug on the arena’s in-house screens.

The 26-year-old Asken (7-0 MMA, 4-0 BFC) remains undefeated in his young career and had a message for would-be challengers slated for Bellator’s season-four welterweight tournament.

“Come and get me; I’m right here,” Askren said. “You know I’m not going to quit.”

Fighting five rounds for the first time in his career, Good (10-1 MMA, 3-1 BFC) also tasted defeat for the very first time.

For much of the first round, Olympic judoka Rick Hawn had trouble tracking down his taller, quicker opponent, LeVon Maynard, in the evening’s opening bout. Once he did, Hawn made “Da Maynman” pay dearly.

In a brief scramble following a missed high kick, Hawn secured his opponent’s arm and tossed him violently over his back. As Maynard slammed to the canvas, he appeared briefly stunned. It would only get worse.

Hawn pounced with a rapid-fire display of hammerfists, and Maynard had no chance to recover. Hawn paused only briefly in order to reset his angle, and his punches found their mark over and over until the referee was forced to step in and halt the fight.

With the win, Hawn (9-0 MMA, 1-0 BFC) reamins undefeated and will now likely take part in Bellator’s season-four tournament. Meanwhile, despite making just one mistake, Maynard (10-7 MMA, 0-1 BFC) falls to a disappointing 1-3 in his past four fights.

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